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ashkazora · 4 years ago

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2020 Fic Roundup

Stats:

Fics Posted (Total): 13

In chronological order: Cold Floors and Warm Hearts - a fluffy shance fic about the three times Shiro accidentally wakes up in Lance’s room. Exchange fic. 3,441 words.

These Boots Are Gonna Walk All Over You - a small klance fillet based on the US tv show, The Blacklist. 639 words.

the water was dark (and it went down forever) - a Lance-centric gen fic exploring his relationship with the Blue Lion, and her control over him. 15,618 words.

Coffee Grinds and Morse Code - a post-s8, Shance fic written for the valentines shance exchange! 3,593 words.

Nectar and Ambrosia - my first Bad Things Happen Bingo prompt fill for the square ‘denied food as punishment.’ Lance whump. 2,641 words.

there ain't no rest for the wicked - another Bad Things Happen Bingo prompt fill for ‘big brother instincts,’ but this time with Plance and Lance whump. 3,508 words.

Of Claws and Steel - a science-fiction, super sentai cat armour AU entered around the Lions as futuristic mecha armour. Most underrated fic here. 14,344 words.

Hairline Fractures - another Bad Things Happen Bingo prompt fill, ‘bleeding through bandages.’ Lance whump (again). 5,059 words.

Leverage - last Bad Things Happen Bingo fill for the year, for the prompt ‘on a leash.’ Featuring Shance, and Lance and Shiro whump. 7,743 words.

Lay It Down To Save It - Leakira Klance AU written for Leakira week. Made in collaboration with @crapoftheworldblr! 18,102 words.

to the stars and back - The Dragon Prince Plance AU with Prince!Lance and Elf!Pidge. In collaboration with @rosieclark! 36,574 words.

Sweeter Than Honey - written for the Blue Moon Lance zine! Features BAMF!Lance as the honeypot on a mission. 4,098 words.

In The Closet - Klance fic for the winner of my fic giveaway. Fluffy, and definitely a bit saucy. 2,363 words.

Fics Posted (Gen): 5

the water was dark (and it went down forever) Nectar and Ambrosia Of Claws and Steel Hairline Fractures Sweeter Than Honey

Plance: 2

there ain't no rest for the wicked to the stars and back

Shance: 3

Cold Floors and Warm Hearts Coffee Grinds and Morse Code Leverage

Klance: 3

These Boots Are Gonna Walk All Over You Lay It Down To Save It In The Closet

Collaborations: 2

Lay It Down To Save It to the stars and back

Ship/Character breakdown:

Ship breakdown:

This year, the biggest ship I wrote for was Shance (3 fics), with Plance (2) and Klance (2.5) coming in from behind. The k/l ficlet doesn’t count as a full fic.

Character breakdown:

Of the 13 fics, Lance is in the most with 13 (insert surprised pikachu face here), then it goes Shiro (12), Keith (10), Pidge (8), Hunk (7), Allura (6) and Matt Holt (2). Other characters appear only once, such as Coran, Haggar and Kolivan. Technically, the Blue Lion clocks in at 2 mentions.

Characters that had the main focus:

Lance had the sole POV for 7 of those fics, and shared POVs (in a collaboration) iin 2 additional fics. Shiro had the second most POVs at a total of 3, while Keith had 1 sole POV and 1 shared POV, and Pidge with one shared POV.

Specifics:

Best/worst title?

Best title: the water was dark (and it went down forever), but honestly so many other fics has titles I liked. This title was based off of the Tim Winton short story by the name name, The Water Was Dark And It Went Down Forever, where the main character swims and debatably drowns. So it’s fairly fitting.

Runners up titles include Sweeter Than Honey, to the stars and back, and Lay It Down To Save It.

Worst title: Hairline Fractures. It’s dumb and it makes no sense. It was the first thing that came to mind.

An honourable mention includes Leverage, which would be first if not for the fact that the title inspired the ending, so it’s not too bad.

Best/worst last line?

Best: From the water was dark (and it went down forever):

Blue’s grasp on him was like an endless expanse; an opulent and brilliant ocean. Her waters were dark, and it went down forever.

This was definitely my favourite, even though it’s pretty cringe. The way it was formatted in ao3 and the way it related to the title plus the reoccurring symbolism of water made it pretty neat!

Worst: From there ain't no rest for the wicked:

Pidge laughed, and turned her back from the darkness.

I’m sorry. This ending was so cringey. I hate it. There’s nothing else to say except I have no idea how to fix it. Oof.

General questions:

Looking back, did you write more fics than you thought you would this year, less than you thought, or about what you predicted?

tbh, I wrote a lot more, considering I had my final exams this year. Breaching 100k was crazy.

What pairing/genre/fandom did you write that you would never have predicted last year?

Honestly? Klance. I’m not the biggest fan of the ship but writing it is very interesting, and I enjoyed it.

What’s your favorite story this year? Not the most popular, but the one that makes you the happiest.

Of Claws and Steel hands down! It’s the first fic idea I ever had for VLD, and the one I really love the most. One day I’d love to write a continuation of it, but the reception of the fic wasn’t great so idk.

Okay, NOW your most popular story.

the water was dark (and it went down forever) even though it was started in 2019, was finished this year and is my most popular fic of all time! It’s got 4k+ hits and 450+ kudos. Crazy, since it was only supposed to be a dumb little warm up fic to get me back into writing in preparation for Of Claws and Steel. Alas, turns out people really liked it!

Story most underappreciated by the universe?

Of Claws and Steel. It was the fic I worked the hardest on this year but got the least amount of attention :)

Story that could have been better?

Easily there ain't no rest for the wicked. There was so much plot and so many things I wanted to include but didn't. There’s a lot of things missing and bad plot flow. One day if I got more time, I’d love to write more on it.

Sexiest story?

In The Closet, hands down. It gets a bit steamy with a k/l makeout session. Originally it was going to be a lot saucier but I wasn’t too comfortable in my ability to write it well ahaha.

Saddest story?

None of my stories were sad, per se. Most of the sad ones were more scary/foreboding rather than actually being sad. I guess to the stars and back right now, because it’s dealing with Lance’s insecurities and Pidge’s desperation to find her brother (and a lot of other things, which will be revealed in the future!)

Most fun?

Sweeter Than Honey! It was fun to write and is my most fun fic. BAMF!Lance and his witty commentary is always a great laugh.

Story with single sweetest moment?

I can’t choose :,). It’s a three-way tie between Cold Floors and Warm Hearts’s last scene where Shiro realises Lance bought him the necklace, Lay It Down To Save It’s scene that I can’t say because it’s technically unpublished ;), and to the stars and back’s scene where Lance and Pidge talk about what they would like to be in life (ch3).

Hardest story to write?

Probably Of Claws and Steel, as I completely stagnated on the story for a long time. It took me 8 months to write it. Without Rue’s help, I probably would have taken so much longer. Runners up is Leverage, as it took me like a solid week to write 90% of it, and 3 more months to write the remaining 10%. For some reason, parts of that fic were such a pain to write.

Easiest/most fun story to write?

The easiest was definitely to the stars and back. I could relate to a lot of Lance’s actions and thoughts in the fic, so writing his POV was super easy and rather cathartic ngl. However the most fun was probably Sweeter Than Honey, as it was super self indulgent ahaha.

Did any stories shift your perceptions of the characters?

Lay It Down To Save It changed my perception of Keith. I don’t particularly like Keith in canon, but I’ve warmed up to his fanon self and general character after writing from his POV.

Most overdue story?

Of Claws and Steel easily! It was the first VLD fic idea I had but took 8 months to write. Oops?

Did you take any writing risks this year? What did you learn from them?

For the first time I incorporated HTML coding into my fics, which taught me a lot about coding and different ways to convey certain messages and detail things. These codings altered fonts and colours, which you can see in

What are your fic writing goals for next year?

Write my tua/vld au fic, which will be my first solo multi chapter fic, and hopefully finish it by the end of next year. Also, sticking to a consistent writing schedule and try to write at least 100 words a day, plus finishing TSSAB. I’d also like to finish some more BTHB prompts!

That’s all, folks! Thank you all for sticking with my writing! Hopefully 2021 brings even more writing, fun times, and great fics. Happy New Years (in 24 hours), everyone!

#ashka writes #fic roundup #2020 fic roundup #MASSIVE shoutout to rue for giving me these questions #if you've read ocas ur officially my favourite person #ao3

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Do Shadow and Bone & Six of Crows Work as One Story?

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This SHADOW AND BONE feature contains spoilers for Season 1.

Though Netflix’s new fantasy series Shadow and Bone is based on the bestselling Grishaverse novels of author Leigh Bardugo, it’s not a straightforward adaptation of the book series that shares its name. In addition to the Shadow and Bone trilogy, the series also incorporates elements from Six of Crows, a duology that is set in the same world, but focused on a very different set of characters.

Set two years after the events of Shadow and Bone, Six of Crows is a dramatic heist story set in a different country (Kerch) and starring a set of characters who really don’t take part in the events of the first trilogy. Until now. Shadow and Bone attempts to create what are essentially prequel storylines for the major characters of Six of Crows: criminal mastermind Kaz Brekker, assassin Inej Ghafa, gunslinger Jesper Fahey, and spy Nina Zenik.

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How these figures would fit into the series’ existing storyline of the discovery of a legendary Sun Summoner with the power to destroy the Shadow Fold was a question that every book fan was wondering prior to the series debut. And now that Shadow and Bone is here, it’s time to dig into whether this fusion of these two separate-but-related series worked or not.

Den of Geek editor Kayti Burt and Den of Geek contributor Lacy Baugher dig into the specifics of the good, the bad, and the somewhere in between when it comes to incorporating the Six of Crows characters into Shadow and Bone. Welcome to our discussion, and feel free to share your own thoughts in the comments below…

Question: Going into this series, what did you think about Netflix’s choice to integrate Six of Crows into Shadow and Bone? Did you think it would work?

Kayti: As someone who has only read the first book in the Shadow and Bone series and neither of the Six of Crows duology, I was intrigued.

As a viewer of adaptation, I tend to hold my opinions until I’ve at least seen the trailer and… well, the first teaser (which is the only trailer I watched before binging the screeners) didn’t give much away. That being said, there’s nothing that frustrates me more than an adaptation that is overly faithful to the plot without being faithful to the tone, characters, and themes of the source material, so I think I am much more tolerant of major plot changes when it comes to adaptation than the average viewer?

Lacy: I will admit that I was extremely apprehensive about it. I mean, I get the impetus to combine both sets of characters into a single story if only to allow Six of Crows fans the chance to see favorites like Kaz and Jesper onscreen. (There are no guarantees that Shadow and Bone would be successful enough to even get a second season, let alone a sequel/spin-off about a completely different cast, after all.)

But the thing is, Six of Crows is a very different story from Shadow and Bone – from setting and characters, to the time it takes place. (It’s actually set two full years after the events in the final Shadow and Bone novel, Ruin and Rising.) Furthermore, it’s also a very different kind of story. Six of Crows is very much a heist drama and one that’s not concerned so much with things like love triangles or larger Ravkan politics. And the characters are, of necessity, much darker and more morally gray than Alina and her friends. I worried that the two worlds of these stories wouldn’t mesh well, or that there simply wouldn’t be anything for the Six of Crows crew to do.

Kayti: Yeah, these are such valid concerns! Even as someone who had never read Six of Crows, I knew that these series, while set in the same world, were doing very different things.

Reading your response, Lacy, I also think I saw it as a way to incorporate the more popular Six of Crows material into the slightly less popular Shadow and Bone, which did make me a bit nervous, as it seemed to be a marketing decision more than a story one. That being said, with good storytellers, those two motivations do not have to be mutually exclusive!

Question: Now that you’ve seen the show, what do you think works with the strategy?

Lacy: Shadow and Bone does, I think, pull off the inclusion of the Six of Crows crew fairly well. Much better than I expected it to if I’m honest.

There are certainly problems – for the first four episodes, it generally feels like the Crows cast exists in an entirely different show that has very little to do with the stuff happening in Os Alta. Shadow and Bone is also generally terrible as a series at drawing any sort of distinctions about what makes life in Kerch different from that in Ravka and how that might have shaped these people.

But the character work is honestly great, and the addition of this Six of Crows prequel plot adds some really interesting layers to Inej and Jesper especially. The show is really clear that the latter obviously has Grisha power in a way that the books are not, and Kit Young steals almost every scene he’s in. (Milo the goat! I cannot! Protect him!)

I also love the way that the show fleshes out Inej, both in terms of her past and how the overhanging threat of returning to the Menagerie impacts her choices, as well as the way her religious beliefs shape who she is. (There’s something honestly wonderful about the fact that she gets to meet and know Alina, who is – and will become even more fully – revered as a saint by her faith, and I just love that for her.)

Kayti: I agree! For the first half of the season, I wasn’t sure if it worked, and I do think that has something to do with the weakness of setting in this adaptation. For parallel storylines to work well, they need to have a strong sense of world-building. In that way, even if there aren’t explicit plot or character connections between the two (or more!) storylines, then each storyline still adds something to the other(s) by virtue of telling us something about the larger world they share. Game of Thrones did this famously well, as does The Expanse. In Shadow and Bone, the articulation of setting is one of the adaptation’s weakest elements—the world and its cultures don’t truly feel real or lived in to me—and I think that hurts the integration of these two book series.

That being said, once the characters and plot collide in the second half of the season, this integration works incredibly well for me. I loved the final episode for so many reasons, but one of the big ones was for how integral the Six of Crows characters (or at least Jesper, Inej, and Kaz) felt to this climax—I mean, Inej throws a dagger into The Darkling! By the end of this season, it didn’t matter to me that the world-building didn’t quite work because I was so invested in these characters. (And I loved the Inej/Alina stuff, as well.)

And then, of course, we have Nina and Matthias off on their own, little subplot, giving me the Jon Snow/Ygritte vibes. Again, this subplot picked up steam for me. At the beginning, I didn’t know why we should care, but these actors really brought their “A” game when it came to their Enemies to Friends to (Almost) Lovers journey, complete with There Is Only One Bed and Huddling For Warmth. I never stood a chance.

Lacy: There is Only One Bed!!! Truly, the best romantic trope there is. Heart eyes emoji.

You’re really right about Shadow and Bone and how it articulates setting. On some level, the fact that the Shadow Fold is the most fully realized location in the show makes a lot of sense – it’s huge, monstrous, and terrifying. But this focus has the downside of making almost everywhere else look and seem exactly the same. (I really would like to know how many viewers didn’t/haven’t yet realized that Kerch is an entirely separate country with different laws about Grisha.)

The utter destruction of the West Ravkan city of Novokribirsk at the end of the season is supposed to be really shocking and underline how depraved the Darkling is, but I don’t think it hits as hard as it should – part of the reason is that the show has plenty of other opportunities to show us the Darkling’s flaws, but it’s also because there’s no real attempt to give West Ravka any real sense of place or identity.

Shadow and Bone Ending Explained: The Stag, Sun Summoner, and Black Heretic

By Lacy Baugher

Shadow & Bone: Ranking the Ships

By Kayti Burt and 1 other

Question: What do you think doesn’t work?

Kayti: I think that some of the supporting characters from Shadow and Bone get lost in the shuffle here, as does the Ravka world-building, and I think that is partially because we spend so much time with the Six of Crows gang. There’s nothing to say that, even if Six of Crows hadn’t been incorporated into this adaptation, we would have had more Os Alta or that more would have been better. In both the source material and the adaptation, the Os Alta stuff feels perfunctory rather than inspired. I would have loved to see the adaptation breathe new life into it, similar to what they did with Mal in the translation, who is a much fuller character in the Netflix series than he is in the book.

Lacy: Kaz Brekker, unfortunately. I mean, I think part of this is because there are aspects of who Kaz is and what he’s been through that you just can’t find out right now because of the story that’s still to come in Six of Crows and how that all plays into things there.

This is probably the right decision, but it has the really annoying side effect of making Kaz the least interesting character in Shadow and Bone for me. And if you’ve read the books, you know that’s the furthest thing from the truth. But here, Kaz is basically just a dude with a cool walking stick who’s kind of super into Inej for some reason and hates a man named Pekka Rollins. There’s almost no sense of who he is on his own terms or why he behaves the way he does.

Kayti: As someone who has yet to read Six of Crows, the degree of mystery around Kaz’s character worked for me. The character performance was strong enough that, even though I wanted answers about his backstory now, it felt more in a “I am getting what I need, not what I want” sort of viewing experience—though I get how this could be different if you already know and love his character.

As a non-book reader, I love the tension of not knowing what the heck is up with Kaz because it seems so in line with who he is as a character—jaded, angry, and prone to pushing people away. Of course, if he didn’t have enough sense to be friends (or whatever) with Inej and Jesper, I probably wouldn’t have as much time for his bullshit. The fact that these two seem to vouch for him as a person worth standing by goes a long way for me, and makes his character all the more intriguing.

Question: Do you foresee any problems with this strategy moving forward?

Lacy: Where do they go from here? The end of Shadow and Bone Season 1 sort of puts all the pieces in place for what feels like it’s about to become the first novel in the Six of Crows series. The Crows gang is on a boat heading back to Ketterdam, Nina is on the same ship with them, clearly about to join their crew with her own Matthias-related agenda. Alina and Mal are heading off on their own journey, which will take them on a completely different path. (Both figuratively and literally speaking.)

Is Shadow and Bone just going to move up the timeline of Six of Crows and put the rest of that story as a sort of B plot to the elements of Siege and Storm that will inevitably drive any Season 2? Season 1 successfully managed to use these characters by basically inventing a backstory for them that wasn’t present anywhere else. (Though it should be noted that Nina’s does come from the books.) I’m not sure that I think they can successfully do that again. But if they do adapt Six of Crows, how does that story fit here – especially if it means they can’t easily cross back into the main narrative?

I’m nervous, is what I’m saying. But the show has pleasantly surprised me thus far, so I live in hope.

Kayti: As someone who hasn’t read the books, I am blissfully ignorant, though, as our two main groups of characters are heading in different directions (both figuratively and literally, as you say, Lacy), I’m not sure what Season 2 is going to look like. Are these characters going to be in completely different stories? Because that doesn’t sound like the best idea. Or is the world-changing stakes of The Darkling and his pet shadows big enough that it will pull all of our main characters in?

Whatever happens in terms of the Shadow and Bone/Six of Crows division, I am very excited to see Nina and Matthias fully engage with Inej, Jesper, and Kaz. Maybe they will spend Season 2 together, with the events of the Six of Crows plot, and come back together somehow with Alina & co. for Season 3?

Lacy: You know, I actually don’t mind that idea at all – sort of letting everyone be free to do their own specific series-mandated things next season and then come back together again in Season 3. Because I think what bugs me is the idea that we might have been sort of gifted this really nifty blending of the book narratives and then have it taken away with nary a mention again. (I also just really want Nina to meet Alina, sue me.)

The more I think about it, the more I don’t necessarily see why we couldn’t have some of the Six of Crows plot here – yes, technically it takes place later on, chronologically speaking, but the show itself has already moved up the timeline of Matthias’ impending imprisonment in Hellgate, which is a big initial mission the Crows crew has to sort of undertake. I don’t think he deserves to stay in prison for what is essentially two more books before they get him out. Maybe that’s a place Season 2 can easily start.

The World of Shadow and Bone Explained

By Kayti Burt

Shadow and Bone Review: Netflix Adaptation Brings the Magic

By Lacy Baugher

Question: Final thoughts.

Kayti: I can’t get over how well this integration worked for me in the second half of the season. This isn’t Stan Lee popping up as a random member of the First Army; Inej, Kaz, and Jesper are the ones to drive Alina out of the palace, and they get to be a small part of that final fight with The Darkling (while not taking away from Alina’s agency and power in that climax). Then, we get a family campfire at the end of the season that straight-up feels like fanfiction (which coming from me is not a dismissal, but rather the ultimate compliment).

Lacy: I can’t wait to really see Nina incorporated with the rest of the Six of Crows cast. She spends most of this season off in her own storyline, which is necessary and gives us a lot of great moments (Nina + Matthias 4-ever), but I am very much looking forward to seeing her friendship with Inej develop.

Also, if we’re going to keep the Six of Crows crew around for any sort of Season 2, which I think they’ll want to do to some extent, I really hope we spend some serious time in Ketterdam, exploring what Kerch is like and how it’s different from Ravka and Fjerda. The Ketterdam set looks amazing and we should get some use out of it.

Kayti: Yes to more Kerch! I am hoping that what we saw in Season 1 was just the tip of the iceberg for what they have planned in terms of the culture and world and that Ketterdam feels more lived-in in Season 2. Overall, the season finale definitely left me eager for more. More than after watching the first episode, after watching the eighth episode, I felt like this story was just getting started.

Looking back on this first season, I think one of the reasons why this show works so well is because it isn’t just a “Chosen One” narrative, and I think that is because it incorporates the Six of Crows’ heist-driven structure. The heist is, by its nature, an ensemble story, while the YA “Chosen One” structure is usually a first-person narrative, which doesn’t always translate so well to the screen. In addition to its amazing characters, this multiple POV, non-Chosen One sensibility is the most important thing Six of Crows brings to Shadow and Bone, and I don’t know if the adaptation would work half as well without it.

The post Do Shadow and Bone & Six of Crows Work as One Story? appeared first on Den of Geek.

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#aion-rsa #Den of Geek

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shinygoku · 4 years ago

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Thunderbirds (2004)

A review by me, CutCat! This is 8-ish pages long!

Spoiler for the end of the film warning: Alan is in International Rescue. What a twist!

Totally Turbulent

Soooo, Tbirds ‘04 is one of those Infamous Adaptations, at least among those who enjoyed Thunderbirds (’65) and of more recent times, Thunderbirds are Go (’15). It’s one of those Bad Live Action Adaptations to a near sacred property, making it dubious contemporaries with Dragon Ball [Evolution], Avatar [The Last Airbender] and suchlike.

But wait, is it really That Bad?? Why is it as divisive as it is? What caused the film to be the way it is, and quite unpopular at that?

First I’m gonna make a long story very short by saying that a Live Action Thunderbirds movie was on and off production for many years, and that the script we ended up with is apparently better than another one that was pitched... but there are reports of cooler scripts further back that never made it, for various reasons. It’s almost a story of it’s own right but I’m only going by 2nd hand information at best, so I’d rather just link them at the end for Additional Reading if y’all felt so inclined.

With that out of the way, we have the Takes from the Andersons to look at. Sylvia had a very favourable reception to it:

"I felt that I'd been on a wonderful Thunderbirds adventure. You, the fans, will I'm sure, appreciate the sensitive adaptation and I'm personally thrilled that the production team have paid us the great compliment of bringing to life our original concept for the big screen. If we had made it ourselves (and we have had over 30 years to do it!) we could not have improved on this new version. It is a great tribute to the original creative team who inspired the movie all those years ago. It was a personal thrill for me to see my characters come to life on the big screen."

Whereas Gerry had a considerably blunter response at the opposite end of the scale:

"the biggest load of crap I have ever seen in my entire life."

As for me, a mere fan of predominantly the TAG series with limited but fond memories of the 90’s TOS reruns, I’d been inclined to ignore it and write it off as a DBE or TLA lost cause. But the combined effect of me deciding to check out unpopular media for myself, namely Dragon Ball GT and the live action Super Mario Bros. movie, and thoroughly enjoying both; and the other effect of TAG finishing but my fixation reawakening with the need to consume More, I dived deeper into the fan base than I had dared to before, in which I found more reasons to watch it and make up my own mind fairly.

Find out what I thought, and a review of the movie itself, below the Cut! ✂

Stormy Story

Ok, enough teasing, I see good things in the movie but not enough for it to be a secret masterpiece, not by a long shot.

1/3 Stars from Me. That’s Poor. (Compare with 2/3 being Good, and 3/3 being Excellent)

My main beef is unfortunately kinda the crux of the whole story, so while there were aspects I really liked, it had permanently set the bar low, and other issues were not helping matters. I’ll go into the problems after I sum up the plot.

[sitcom harp music]

14 Year Old Alan Tracy is stuck in a stuffy school with only his nerd friend to confide in. Something’s eating him up, and it’s jealousy over how his family are International Rescue, the secret rescue workers whole pilot the Thunderbirds, impossibly cool craft with capabilities vastly exceeding standard technology. Even when he’s allowed out of school and back to the Island, his envy and barely repressed resentment over not being a member himself causes him to go off and sulk and to try taking Thunderbird 1, the hypersonic jet plane, for a joyride.

His father and the leader of International Rescue, Jeff Tracy chews Alan out for almost compromising the need for the organisation to remain secret, lest their advanced technology falling into the wrong hands. Alas, said wrong hands are already working against IR: The Hood, a diabolical, cold blooded criminal with psychic powers and a grudge against Jeff. After successfully tracking the location of Tracy Island, he launches a missile towards Thunderbird 5, the Space Station where IR monitor potential disasters to prevent as much damage as possible, manned by John Tracy.

With TB5 crippled and John injured, Jeff and his other three older sons all scramble to the disaster zone via Thunderbird 3, the Rocket Ship. But with Tracy Island largely unmanned, The Hood moves in and aims to use the Thunderbirds to rob bank vaults while simultaneously smearing International Rescue’s good name. As the only Tracy brother left on Earth, it’s up to Alan and his 2 friends, Fermat and Tin-Tin, to foil the Hood and save his family, proving himself worthy in the process. He is also assisted by IR’s London Agent, Lady Penelope, and her driver/butler/lockpicker, Parker.

...

Ok, so that’s a summary you may read on the back of a DVD box, maybe it’s a bit long but whatever. Do you see what’s wrong with the story? The massive rift in the formula that should be within a template set by the hugely popular TV Series?

Critical Crux

For me, the main issue with the movie is that the Tracy family are thrown under a bus, or perhaps it’s more like being locked in a closet, in order for Alan to rise up and be The Hero. A show that was about each of them having different roles and personalities to the others, and the movie sees the best way to adapt the premise is to reduce 3 of them to cardboard cutouts who aren’t allowed to do or say anything meaningful, with the exception to this getting the dubious honour of getting a missile and exploding space station to the face.

I can’t clearly express how much this pisses me off! It’s downright insulting and baffling as well. They had pre established characters right there for the taking but go NO! Let’s make OCs to fill this newly created void instead and make the main Message of the film Friendship Teamwork.

Why does every child-skewed media hafta have the Friendship message? It’s a good one, sure, but nothing said in this film about it was fresh or original. Y’know what I see far, far less? Not just in Kid Flavoured Media, but all sorts? The importance of Brotherly Bonds between actual brothers!! I don’t subscribe to the massively misunderstood message version of ‘Blood is thicker than water’, but a story with the siblings actually pushed and stressed and coming out stronger at the end would have ruled!!

[For what it’s worth, the actual saying is “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb”, i.e. the bonds you choose to forge are more important than happening to be born to certain people. This correct message is still compatible with literal siblings though!]

The other, somewhat lesser Large Issue with the movie is simply that we don’t see much in the way of Rescues with the titular Thunderbirds. We only get the tail end of the Oil Rig in Act 1, and then the ‘Birds are used predominantly to get to London and save 1 Monorail Car with TB4.

Watsonian Woes & Doylist Dilemma

When looking at Media, there’s 2 main angles to consider; Doylist and Watsonian. Doylist is the “real life / meta” angle, the structure of the story or interests of the author being in the plot, that kinda thing. Watsonian is the reason given within the story.

All stories have Watsonian and Doylist reasonings, the trick is to blend them in and not use a weedy Watsonian reason for something stupid happening.

Why bring this up? Because it’s still part of the Huge Problem I have with the film; the Doylist reason for all of IR being incapacitated so easily is so Alan can shine without fighting for focus in a large group. I don’t like it, but let’s go along with it for now.

Believe it or not, but I can accept that a Movie format isn’t going to be the same as an ongoing series. There’s way less time and you gotta hit certain beats. Ideally you also condense the essence of the show into the film while being more than just a long episode. They didn’t hit this note in my opinion...

But other than ‘It has to happen for he story to work’, there’s no damn reason for all the Non-Alan Tracys to be cooped up in the crippled TB5! They put all their eggs into one basket when a considerably more sensible choice woulda been to have a small crew, and the others remain on base. Because even without factoring in a worst case scenario where another missile hits them while in space, killing them all, which totally could have happened for all they know, there’s also the part about them being International Rescue! They gotta be ready to respond to other disasters should those develop. TB1, 2 and 4 were still available for use!

If I was Jeff making the boneheaded decision, I would have taken a second to think about it and have 1 of the Bros come up in 3 with me. Seeing to John shouldn’t be something 4 people are needed for, it would just get more crowded and the oxygen would be used way faster! Considering they all come close to asphyxiating, 2 less people would mean things weren’t so damn close to the wire! (Granted, the movie also has them falling into Earth’s atmosphere and burning up as a hazard, but the whole crew being there doesn’t affect that.)

Jeff! You’re the patriarch and supposedly most experienced dude in the whole movie! Why didja run into that trap with both eyes open? Stressful situation, sure, but in the Rescue Business you need to be able to listen to the cold, clinical angle. You’re risking more of your sons’ lives making such a rash judgement!!

Character Conundrums

This is the part of the review where I begin to really emphasise the differences between TOS and this movie. I’ll hold off TAG for now in the interest of fairness.

The movie is a mixed bag when it comes to the individuals within it. Some have been refreshing updates to stuffy 60′s tropes, but several draw the short straw, feeling even stiffer than their marionette precursors.

Alan - Hoo, boy. The plot follows Alan.... for the third time if you’re factoring in the Supermarionation movies, which was quite the baffling choice as Puppet!Alan is quite the obnoxious jerk. But whatever, new movie, new canon, new Alan. While the Alan of the 60′s was a bizarrely whiny brat of a character considering he was supposed to at least be in his early 20′s this Alan at least makes more sense to be annoying. But yes, he starts off as a sullen jerk with unclearly defined jealousy towards his own brothers and seemingly a lack of grasping the stakes behind International Rescue, viewing being one of the crew as a Cool Job rather than a gruelling, life-risking ordeal. Over the course of the movie (mostly Act 3) he becomes less of a berk and a better team player, even going as far as to save the Hood personally.

Jeff - One of the stronger characters in the movie, even with this poor choice I’ve gone on about already, haha. You get the real impression the job means the world to him, but still secondary to his sons. An update and improvement to the sometimes stodgy and holier-than-thou character from the 60′s, plus his proactive role makes him way less of a backseat driver.

Lady Penelope - Best character and a splendid update to the 60′s Socialite. This Penny is always a delight to see, although her ability to change clothes offscreen sometimes pushes plausibility, haha. She and Jeff also have very natural and endearing chemistry, so for this iteration at least, I’m up for shipping them, something I can’t say for TOS.

Parker - Remarkably true to the beloved puppet version and another highlight. His interplay with Penelope is some of the best dialogue in the whole movie, and was written by Richard Curtis in an uncredited role, or so I’ve read.

The Hood - A shockingly sadistic and cold blooded so-and-so. His Psychic powers have been given a huge boost, and the depths of his spite generates all the tense scenes the movie has to offer. His performance may be the best in the whole film, simultaneously over the top while also completely deadly.

Tin-Tin - Y’know, Tin-Tin is a funny character, in how she’s very different in all versions. I enjoy her in TOS, but her potential as an engineering assistant, mathematician and member of IR are quickly discarded to make her a secretary, which is further demoted to bringing coffee. Ahh, The Sixties! One of her other defining features was the sometimes bickering sexual tension with Alan. Movie!Tin-Tin is still the implied love interest [and the same age] with him, but she’s also an Action Girl extraordinaire, with abilities bordering on metahuman. She can trek through the jungle without slowing down, she can dive underwater for prolonged sequences, and has a variation of her Evil Uncle’s Psychic capabilities, but used for good. Notably, the Kayo of TAG takes significantly more from this Tin-Tin to the original, sadly sans Telekinesis.

Fermat - The only OC I’m gonna dignify with a section here lol. He’s basically mini-Brains, complete with the way he t-ta-tal- -distinctive speech patterns. But yeah, as the hypersmart and nerdy pal, I feel that his role is pretty superfluous, though his performance in the movie got me to soften up, he’s a good kid. Just one who, like, is part of the deal breaking issue I have with the whole film. In a way I think he’d have made a better lead than Alan lmao

Brains - Not much to say here, he’s also a dude in distress for a majority of his screentime. Seems to be older than his TOS self and a bit less subservient to Jeff, but also a father ....or Fermat is his clone. They never make that clear. He’s hit on by the Hood’s Female Scientist and it’s played for comedy, more on that later.

John - In TOS, his role was infamously minimal, as Gerry Anderson took such a strong disliking to the John puppet and the TB5 model that he exiled both into space with a few token shots per episode. So in comparison, this movie is far kinder to John! He has a nice, genuine chat with Jeff, without any mission to initiate said videocall. The movie is also quite mean to John in how he gets bombed by the Hood, his space station in tatters, his arm hurt and then near suffocation with Jeff and most of his brothers. Ahh, the conundrum of being John.

Scott, Virgil and Gordon - No, they don’t even get their own paragraphs in my review. Their lack of presence and importance in the movie is my giant gripe (have you noticed yet?) and it got to the extent that I feel they could have been combined into one character to save casting money. They get maybe 5 lines each, if that. I literally can’t tell Scott and Virgil apart (I know they have name tags on their uniforms, but in most scenes I couldn’t even read that) other than knowing 1 of them is taller. Which that one is, is a mystery.

The only one with a slightly distinctive appearance and air is Gordon, which is another can of worms because he seems to be the designated Doubtful Jerk Brother and that drives me mad!! In TOS he wasn’t as main a character as Scott, Virgil or Alan, but he was still a defined person with his own abilities. And his personality was as a slightly mouthy but the most lighthearted character! Why didn’t they carry that over?!

And yeah, Scott and Virgil are pretty much the Main Two of the brothers in TOS, so their roles being reduced to 1 token act during the oil rig rescue each [Gordon didn’t even get that!] is all the more mind boggling.

Hood’s Minions - Can’t be assed to write their names out, I refer to them as Heavy Dude and Science Woman. Heavy Dude is the Heavy, and his character consists of Dumb and somewhat Sadistic Muscle. Science Woman is first objectified (we see her ass first. Yes, really.) but then it’s ‘revealed’ that as she has Austin Powers level teeth, she’s uuuuuglyyyyy and her otherwise genuine attraction towards Brains is played for laughs with this angle. And that’s still female on male sexual harassment, which doesn’t fly with me. Eeeesh. Bad writing! She does Science Things for Hood.

The Rest - Kyrano and his wife are in this. Wife is Original but basically Grandma’s role, though she doesn’t even get a single word to say. Rip. Also the Hood has a few more generic mooks from somewhere, but seemingly only for part of the movie. Kyrano didn’t do much in the show except get bullied by the Hood and little has changed.

Tone Trouble

I feel like the movie has a bit of an issue with balancing a consistent Tone. Again, let’s look back at TOS. It was a Family Show, designed to not just appeal to little kids, but to also keep their parent and other adult amused. Maybe some of it was also the result of the times, but striking to me is that they allowed the characters to get pretty hurt, complete with red paint being applied to look like realistic blood. Some of the criminals, including the Hood himself, would be very vicious, how he treats Brains in Desperate Intruder comes to mind. There was even firefights resulting in death, like the memorable climax of Operation Crash-Dive, where Gordon has to shoot a saboteur in the back, into the open sea below the compromised plane. He then proceeds to hold the cut wires together with his bare hands. Don’t try this at home, kids!

So while I can understand some of that being removed from the Movie (and TAG), there’s still the irritating going down to a perceived kid’s level for the majority of the film, which is probably also a large reason for the massive structural change. But then, there’s shockingly dark implications here and there, and the haunting sight of the crew trapped on TB5 floating lifelessly in the dark, asphyxiating. But then, again, we have goofy choreographed fight scenes with juvenile stock cartoon sounds. And then, we have Hood force choking Alan?! It has been mostly consistent until Act 3, then the tone goes up and down more than the flying machines.

Revamped Rockets

I’m mostly talking about the main craft here, though I know the Pod vehicles got modified too, I’m not sufficiently a TOS Pod Buff to go over them.

TB1 - Looks real nice! Maintains and even enhances the sleekness, and the idea of a glass cockpit is much better than having 1 tiny window and a dinky TV screen to see by. Oddly dark inside the cockpit considering how much glass there is, though. Probably my fav of the Movie Fleet.

TB2 - Oof. Looks bad, man. Like, really ugly. What have they done to the glorious design that was the Original Big Green? The unofficial mascot from her importance and unorthodox style? They turned her into a stubby, too glossy, chunky bar of green soap. The thick ass legs are a good idea but it sure ain’t enough. Also, she carries 3 smaller pods insteada 1 big one.

TB3 - Like TB1, pretty much the same design but streamlined a little. Docks with 5 sidewise instead of like pen going into its lid.

TB4 - I’m mixed. I like the idea of giving her a glass canopy and extendable arms, but the movie’s version is so boxy she looks more like a small yellow Greenhouse with the rear half of the old Four, haha. The arms also look a little stiff, can they bend? Now, if there was a sleek, glass hulled, variable armed, demolition charges-loaded Four, that would be my favourite possible version ;3 Four is my fav craft in TOS and TAG, for what it’s worth.

TB5 - I say it’s quite a visual improvement over TOS and the odds and ends jumbled look that had, though I do appreciate a bit of Chunkiness. This one really needs to have better defence too, TOS 5 may’ve been able to tank that missile lmao

FAB1 - I know that she would have been a Rolls Royce in the film, but BMW said no, so that’s not a point against the movie. And failing the classic image, it’s cute that it’s a Ford Thunderbird, though I’d have preferred one with those 50′s/60′s stylish fins personally lol. Her ability to fly is new here unless you count the Dream Sequence in Are Go (’66) and the water mode was also seen in that before this, and she gets the job done, though we don’t get to see as many gadgets and gizmos in the course of the film.

Unlikely Uniforms

I really don’t understand these. Why are they off white with minimal accent colours? What was wrong with the blueness of their suits and the broad stripe of a secondary colour? I sure ain’t saying the 60’s costumes were practical or even that fashionable, but they were very distinctive and striking!

Not only that, but for some strange unexplained reason, their uniforms all correspond not to their own speciality, but to which craft they’re currently piloting. Even if they’re all in the same Bird...! So like, four out of five are wearing identical looking red accented suits while locked in TB5. I already find the elder brothers to be the Similar Squad, and their microscopic name tags don’t help!

Why don’t they wear their own coloured uniforms all the time? Then ya don’t need the name tag at all! And the silly implication from the way there’s apparently a whole set of Craft Specific uniforms is that there’s piles of clothes that ain’t getting used in all of them, like the tiny TB4 probably having 6 whole sets on board at the end of the film.

Between that, no blue and the outfits looking like Generic Sports Wear, the only nice thing to say is the THUNDERBIRDS down the sleeve is a cool touch. Which should really say International Rescue or IR...

Mingled Misc.

Yeah, The conflation of Thunderbirds and International Rescue is a tad irritating but it’s actually something I can overlook. It’s not a dealbreaker and it makes sense the Dumbass Public would misunderstand and call them the wrong thing.

Jeff refuses Alan early access into IR and cites “No shortcuts”. Then at the end he echoes this when he is making Alan an official member, saying he did it with no shortcuts. The whole faffing scenario was a giant shortcut!!! Fuck training and being a suitable age, am I right?!

Amazingly I didn’t cover this already, but when Alan shortcuts his way onto the team he’s made pilot of ... TB4. That’s why he’s in yellow accents in the pic. Gordon is seemingly the main pilot of TB3 instead, but the movie doesn’t deign to make that clear. While I appreciate that the 14 year old with no Astronaut training isn’t put in charge of 3 instantly, I resent the careless removal of characterisation. Obviously movie Gordon never served with WASP or won the gold medal in swimming or had a massive hydrofoil crash to nearly kill him but ggggghgggaaahhhhhhhhh

Also what’s with the implication that Four is the Babby’s First Machine? She’s a highly specialised craft that would require different training to flying or Space shit! How dare you?! The most charitable link is that Alan stood around in 4 as Tin-Tin did most of the work herself, but I guess it coulda as some level of experience.

Ford Sponsorship - Gets a bit much! It’s one thing for all the cars to be Ford, but them seemingly owning the News is like an unpleasant look into a world where corporations run everything.... hahahaahaaaaaa........

Marvellous Music

Something the movie really excells at is the tunes! The remix of the Thunderbirds March is good in it’s own right and very welcome, and the new music is all solid. Special mention to Busted’s outro song for slapping so hard even people who hate the movie leave warm youtube comments about the song. I have a habit of listening to it set to TAG footage myself, haha

Sincere Summation

Look, I’ve come off negative in this, but I honestly have a lot of respect for a lot of the parts of this picture. Hood, Penelope, Parker and Jeff are fantastic, the physical models and sets have a lot of care and loving detail poured in, the music is all bangers and other little nods and homages to the show shine brightly. The director got a lot of good work in and I hold him no ill will.

I think the problem is in the Writing and probably Studio Mandates, I’m not 100% sure, but things often get snaggy when the studio you’re working under gets bought out by a bigger company partway through. Again, I’ll refer to the info I’ve seen instead of trying to relay it in my own words.

And they made a real bad call snubbing Gerry as a Creative Consultant. Some of his venom towards the film may be from that, as well as his alleged preference to Team America: World Police as a theatrical homage. And I’ve seen that before and wouldn’t really say that’s true to the spirit of Thunderbirds, but yeah...

I’d be interested in any future Thunderbirds Movies, if that’s ever on the cards again. I’d probably be even more up for continuation of the TAG series, or newer new Captain Scarlet with International Rescue involved. Either way, I want new footage of the Birds taking off again, be it puppet, people, CGI, or something new~

Extra Reading

https://securityhazard.net/2017/05/19/thunderbirds-2004/ Full movie review, warm reception. Contains photos of set pieces and costumes.

http://groovyfokker.blogspot.com/2013/02/thunderbirds-arent-go-unfilmed-versions.html Insight into some of the past issues developing a Movie, but gets some basic information wrong (Since when is Gordon the youngest and TB3 orange??)

Thanks if ya’ve been reading the whole thing! <3

#Thunderbirds 2004 #Thunderbirds #Thunderbirds TOS #Thunderbirds Movie #Movie Review #can't really tag it with TAG because I deliberately kept that minimal lol #I care so much about Tbirds so I had much to say #I hope the links don't mess up it appearing in the tags :v

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quarterfromcanon · 5 years ago

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1-4. For the asks

Thank you so much for sending these! <3

Once I started to answer them, I realized there were comparatively few recent television shows appearing on the list. I seemed to keep gravitating toward older ones I remembered from years ago. I took a handful of days to mull it over in case I was forgetting something, but nothing else comes to mind. Maybe my ongoing list of Shows to Watch During Quarantine will turn up some fresh results but, for now, it looks like I’ll be taking a little trip down memory lane. :)

This turned out to be a pretty long and rambly post, so I’ll stow it under the cut!

Top 5 TV Shows

1. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - I can’t imagine this surprises anyone who has been following this blog for the past two years or so. It brought fellow fans into my life, got me back into writing fic, and prompted countless tags of meta. It’s the show my mind drifts to on a weekly basis (if not daily) even a full year after the finale. Just when it seemed I’d reached an age where that level of intense fandom involvement and character attachment might be fading, it proved that quite the opposite was true. I’m very thankful to the series for that, and for the people whose paths have crossed mine as a result.

2. Schitt’s Creek - This is my #1 Feel Good show and, though I’ve been dodging spoilers for the final season until it gets uploaded to Netflix, I get the impression that it will remain in that top spot. The world feels softer and more hopeful there. It’s healing for my soul. I’m going to have a dreadfully difficult time saying goodbye, but I’m glad there are six season to revisit whenever I want.

3. Stranger Things - The theme song alone sends such a rush of excitement through me. I love the aesthetic and the atmosphere. I sometimes have mixed feelings about the romances but the FRIENDSHIPS sure do have a direct line to my heartstrings. I think the way they’ve combined media influences into their own story is really neat. You get something that’s new and engaging, but you can also go back and enjoy the sources of inspiration with fresh appreciation.

4. Joan of Arcadia - I can’t help it. The snark, the jackets, the early 2000s songs, the performances -- the nostalgia for this show is so strong. It’s not without its problems, but it did have some really good things to offer as well. I remember an episode that was one of my earliest introductions to the concept of a trigger, and the effect it could have on a person if exposed to one of theirs. The series dealt a lot with grief and the many forms it can take (I STILL can’t hear Fiona Apple’s cover of “Across the Universe” without getting misty-eyed). I’m also surprised, looking back, at the somewhat positive way I recall them discussing homosexuality on the several occasions that it came up in the show. Not to give too much credit since I don’t think there were recurring canonically LGBTQIA+ characters but, for a kid who spent most days around closed-minded people of a certain religious leaning, it was meaningful along my individual journey. I’d like to provide the several examples that are most vivid in my memory:

A. A girl with short hair, short nails, little to no makeup, and a bulky leather jacket is generally assumed to be a lesbian by the bullies at school. The show directly confronts the fact that “gay” should not be used an insult, that identity should not be assumed without the person telling you so, AND makes sure that the character in question never pushes back by saying harmful things about lesbians despite not actually being one herself.

B. A boy who is questioning is able to confide in his big brother and have a fairly calm conversation about it; the awkwardness mostly comes from neither of them being accustomed to openly discussing emotions, not from the possibility of a negative response regarding the subject matter.

C. Another character is accidentally discovered to be gay (he only appears in the one episode, if my memory serves), and some of the leads have the opportunity to share that for personal gain. However, even though he is a popular jock who is a bit of a jerk in the hallways, the show makes it clear that the right choice is still to leave the telling of that information up to him and him alone.

Like I mentioned, it can’t be said that representation was in abundance here - for instance, I don’t believe anything other than straight or gay was presented as a possibility - but any accepting acknowledgement in a faith-centric series was something for me to hold on to in my still-deeply-closeted days. As a final Very Important personal side note, this show brought Judith Montgomery into my life (pictured below on the left), and that feels like it merits a shoutout for being what I consider a rather significant marker in my awakening.

THE OVERWHELMING CRUSH I HAD - and still have - is one for the books.

5. Pushing Daisies - This is another show with an aesthetic I adore. The series has such a fun, whimsical energy. The crime-solving! The clothes! The cast! There's a lot to love. It’s the kind of world I wish I could visit... well, minus the evidently rampant murder rate.

Top 5 Overrated TV Shows

1. Once Upon A Time - *deep sigh* I tried to stick with it for so long. I think I’ve seen five out of the seven seasons in their entirety. It just felt like everything got mired down by excessive (and increasingly convoluted) subplots, often for the purpose of tossing in as many fairytale and/or Disney characters as possible. Plus, quite honestly, there was too much emphasis on romantic love. For a show whose first season involved a curse being broken by [potential spoiler, I suppose] a mother kissing her son’s forehead, I ultimately found myself up to my ears in romantic ships. It reached such a stifling extent that, if you were not particularly attached to those pairings, there wasn’t a whole lot else to entice further viewing.

2. Under the Dome - I don’t know for certain what the general public opinion of this series was, but it felt like the commercials always featured alleged rave reviews, so I figured I could include it here. I was vaguely interested in Season 1, mainly as a fan of Rachelle Lefevre’s work. Season 2 pulled me in with the introduction of a new townsperson and I threw WAY too much of my heart into that attachment, which backfired when that character was killed. I made quite the spectacle of my heartbreak, so much so that my family doesn’t let me mention this show around them anymore. :P Season 3 was, to phrase it delicately, not a great time. The series did introduce me to a few new-to-me actors, though, so that was cool.

3. Bates Motel - Even the incentive of learning that the two characters I liked most share a lot of screen time later in the series hasn’t been enough to call me back to this one. I don’t know if it was the pacing that put me off or what, but the prospect of finishing the remaining seasons feels so daunting. There are evidently five seasons in total and I believe I’ve only seen two of them thus far. I will probably muddle through it someday just to see how it goes, but the fact that I am so disinclined to prioritize it made this feel like a fair addition to the list.

4. Lost - My interest in this series unfortunately waned right before fervent fandom spiked. I don’t have any specific complaints that come to mind about what I saw; I just sort of drifted and then stayed away. Teachers I liked and peers I spent time with were starting to latch on to the show and I couldn’t find even the slightest inclination to give it a second try. However, did I still dutifully read all the latest installments in my friend’s Sawyer Ford and Kate Austen fanfiction when she passed me handwritten copies at lunch? Sure. I was glad it made her happy, even if I was no longer a viewer.

5. Hemlock Grove - I say this as someone who still mourns the fates of some characters in this show, so I wouldn’t go so far as to claim that the series stopped being able to make me feel anything. I’m just of the opinion that, in some ways, it might’ve been better off stopping at one season. That’s where the book it was based on ends, and things just didn’t feel as cohesive after that. Season 3 especially was - borrowing from my above review of Under the Dome - not a great time. That being said, there are also certain elements from the book that I could’ve done without in the Season 1 adaptation but... well... here we are.

Top 5 Underrated TV Shows

1. Picnic at Hanging Rock - Another one that won’t surprise followers of this blog. I have rhapsodized about it quite frequently since I found it a little over a month ago. It’s a period piece mystery miniseries with LGBTQIA+ representation, gorgeous costumes, and Samara Weaving. This felt specifically designed to wedge its way into my heart, and I’m quite content with the space it now occupies.

2. Dark - I’m so intrigued by the overlapping timelines with all of the morally gray characters. It’s possible to like one of these people in the timeline where they’re young but dislike them as adults, or vice versa. It also makes me think of Rant by Chuck Palahniuk a little tiny bit with the idea that time travel, specifically tampering with your own timeline, might make you physically and behaviorally unrecognizable to yourself. And the SONG CHOICES! I have gotten some solid new music selections from this series.

3. Sense8 - I still need to watch the finale. I really do. But I knew it would make me sad so I’ve avoided it for... two years now? Pretty close, I think. The concept is fascinating and the cast is so strong. Plus the cinematography! They came up with some of the coolest ways to depict the link these characters share and what it’s like when they connect over distance. The planning and careful editing it all must’ve taken... I remain in awe.

4. Penny Dreadful - There were definitely some story/writing choices I didn’t particularly like along the way, but I did get engrossed in the creepy goodness and the performances -- Eva Green’s Vanessa Ives most of all. It left me wishing for more period piece “monster mash” stories, because having all those classic characters in one place was a blast. It also helped me understand why Helen McCrory was once slated to play Bellatrix Lestrange because she can be terrifying. Oh and Sarah Greene in her Wild West outfits? Perdita Weeks with short red hair in fencing garb, and later in all leather with boots and a long jacket? I WAS NOT PREPARED AND I HAVE STILL NOT RECOVERED. I NEVER WILL.

5. Wonderfalls - There’s some cringe-inducing handling of certain representation in the series, but I have such a weak spot for quippy outcasts who become reluctant chosen ones (Joan Girardi in Joan of Arcadia, Wynonna Earp, Jaye Tyler in this series, et cetera). I also really love the sibling dynamics here. They bicker, tease one another, help each other out of trouble, and have rare but genuine heart-to-hearts. Caroline, Lee, and Katie all did such a great job blending their characters’ adult personalities with certain childhood attributes that rise to the surface in the presence of family.

Top 5 Movies

1. Addams Family Values - I’ve rewatched this movie at least once annually since I found it in Media Play at age 13. Usually, I’ll play it around Halloween or, at the latest, Thanksgiving. It’s mouth-along-with-every-line level ingrained in my memory. I find myself leaning forward in my seat before favorite parts because I’m still that excited to relive them. Why this movie, and why this devotion to such a degree? It’s hard to explain, even to myself. I can tell you, however, that I hold up every other portrayal of the Addams characters to the versions found in this. Everybody in the cast just feels that perfect for their part.

2. Clue - I was already pretty fond of this movie to begin with, but then my sister got older and claimed it as a favorite of her own, so now she just supplies me with further excuses to watch it repeatedly. It’s also been a bonding piece of media with a couple of close friends and such through the years. It’s incredible to think not everyone in it was the first choice for their roles; what everybody brings to the table is so top-notch that I wouldn’t have it any other way. I also LOVE knowing that it originally went to theaters with different endings depending on which showing you attended. I gather people weren’t terribly thrilled with the stunt back then, but I kinda think some moviegoers would be into that approach these days? Then again, one hit that tried something different tends to start a fad, so maybe I’d end up regretting the suggestion after a while. :P

3. The Craft - This. Movie. Yes, Act III is a major bummer even though I know it’s coming, and I’ll always wish it ended differently. Even so. This. Movie. I tend to headcanon mostly for shows and sometimes books, but The Craft is a beloved exception. I love so much about it: the magic, the music, the clothes, the settings, the dynamics within the friend group, the performances. I had no idea when I first got the DVD at 17 that it would become such a part of my life, but I’m so glad it found its way to me.

4. Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion - The soundtrack is a glorious ’80s and ’90s treat for my ears. The colorful costumes are perfectly suited to the main characters’ version of the world. There are so many great lines and it feels like everyone is having a lot of fun in their roles. I LOVE HEATHER MOONEY SO MUCH. She’s my awful, scathingly sarcastic, little grungy grump and she fills my heart with joy.

5. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King - I was pretty sure at least one of the three had to appear on here. I think, if I were to tally them all up, The Return of the King features most of my favorite moments, so it wins the spot. “I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you!”, ‘Edge of Night,’ Éowyn in battle, The Army of the Dead, ‘Into the West’... I end up crying during the end credits every time. So, yeah, ultimately, I would choose the third part of the trilogy if I could only watch one.

Phew, that’s it! All the questions answered, all the shows and movies listed! Thank you to anyone who takes the time to read it all, and thanks again to @monaiargancoconutsoy for sending in the prompts! <3

#About Me #Answered Asks

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ikuyeah · 7 years ago

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Lucky Us

Fandom: Aikatsu Stars! Ship: AkoKana, Kanako. Implied SubaYume (onesided?). Summary: After the Christmas live, Ako comes to the realisation that her feelings for Kanata aren’t as simple as annoyance and exasperation. Kanata, on the other hand, knows all about his crush on Ako, he just sort of assumed she’d never turn her head away from Subaru.

In short, they’re both very very wrong.

Comments: Big thanks to @crimson-shell who was basically the biggest and only supporter of this fic. XD

Dress Credit: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/548946642072537690/ Song Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LMo9lyoiWM

- Side: S4 -

Ako scratched frustratedly at the words scrawled across the page in hasty pencil. She’d gotten the inspiration to write a song after the Christmas Live. The tune, a slower kind of melancholic song than she was used to as a Pop Idol, had tons of instrumental breaks for simple dances that she could improve on when she got to the choreography stage. “If I want to break through, I have to try new things, right?” She muttered to herself, brushing away the eraser shavings and staring at the line she’d written initially during the climax of the song.

That someone is…

“Anata.” She sang. With a sigh, she set aside her pencil, she wasn’t going to get that done. Not when she couldn’t remember what brought the revelation on in the first place. It must have been pretty huge.

Ako’s eyes widen. “Right, M4 is going to debut for their solo careers.” Remembering that conversation she had with Kanata still made her face heat up with embarrassment.

But, before he cut in - he called her bad girl, really, she can’t quite believe he’d said that to her face either - she remembered wondering just when she’d started worrying about Kira Kanata.

As a fan of M4, she fancied herself fairly knowledgeable of its other members besides Subaru who she knew like the back of her hand. It’s how she knew who Mahiru was, she’s a walking database after all. But, she’ll be the first to admit that Kanata was the member she had liked least. She’d thought he was kind of boring, clearly the straight man of the group who tolerated no nonsense. The fact that he’d immediately called her out on her crush on Subaru only fanned the flames of her dislike.

When those flames of dislike died down to become mutual respect and sometimes even support was such a slow and natural progression that it shocked Ako when she found the flames all gone.

One question remained, what did it mean?

Ako put her feelings for Subaru on one side of the back of the sheet.

Infatuation.

Admiration.

Awe.

And next to it, she wrote a column for her feelings towards Kanata.

Annoyance.

Ako started at it and shook her head. Even she could admit that her reactions toward Kanata’s teasing aren’t out of annoyance anymore. Kanata was perceptive, his teases weren’t teases because they hit way too close to home. She crossed out annoyance and replaced it with another feeling.

Embarrassment.

And why on Earth was she embarrassed by him anyway?

Flustered.

Respect.

Ako recalls her concern for him when she thought M4 was breaking up, scribbling another word down.

Worry.

She tapped her pencil against the space below the word worry and hesitated before writing.

Care (?)

Her eyes catch the other side of the page and she flushes, holding the paper up in front of her. The weight in her chest lifted when she was describing how she felt whenever she talked to Kanata and she felt like she could write more because that’s how Kanata is. He talks to you and leaves you with more mixed feelings than you know what to do with.

Staring at Kanata’s five different emotions compared to the three similar sounding ones she named for Subaru made her heart pound. Her mental database pinged and her cheeks flushed again when the thought registers in her head.

“Why am I comparing Kanata to Subaru-kyun?” She says in a hushed voice. But, it’s too late. Ako is a smart girl and there’s only one thing that connects the two.

The strong feelings she’s written down stare at her mockingly and she wonders how she missed the moment she’d started liking Kira Kanata.

- Side: M4 -

“Heard we were going to go on that TV interview with someone from S4 in a week.” Subaru chimed trying to sound nonchalant as he settled in on the couch next to Kanata. “Any idea who it is, Kanata?” The viridian haired dancer peered at him inquisitively, the beginnings of a smirk blooming across his face.

Kanata leaned back, deciding to leave him in suspense until Nozomu and Asahi were within hearing distance. “If you’re hoping for Nijino Yume, I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you.” He said, pushing his glasses up. And that, he thinks, is how to do nonchalant.

Predictably, Nozomu slides gracefully into the room and makes a suggestive comment about Subaru’s crush on the blonde S4 member. Asahi punctuates each quip with a smartly timed comedic comment that has all of them laughing.

And then, the unthinkable happens.

“Like I said, I’ll have to disappoint you.” Kanata says, relaxing into the couch cushions and it’s his biggest mistake, relaxing when he’s hid it for so long. “It’s Saotome Ako.”

A moment of silence makes Kanata look up at his unit and meet eyes with a smirking Igarashi Nozomu. It was - as it says in that popular internet meme - in that moment that Kira Kanata knew he messed up.

“So, it’s like that.” Nozomu said, seamlessly moving them over so that he could sit next to Kanata trapping him between Nozomu and Subaru with Asahi in front of him. “You were quite smart to hide it but I’m beginning to see a pattern here.”

Asahi perks up, sensing something interesting happening in front of him. “Nani Nani? Nani Nani?” He says, repetitively. He’s leveled his Detective Drama gaze right at Kanata which was bad news for him because Asahi was actually as perceptive as him. It’s why he’s so good at acting like a detective. “What am I missing? What’s happening?” He asked.

“Saotome Ako. That girl on that Mermaid Idol show?” Subaru asks. And the fact that Subaru needs clarification is really grating on Kanata’s nerves enough to make him want to smother Subaru with a throw pillow.

And enough, apparently, to be very noticeably frowning.

Nozomu snaps his fingers and points at the downward twitch of Kanata’s eyebrows. “Checkmate.” He smirks. “Kanata’s interested in someone. And not just anyone, one of Subaru’s die hard fans.”

“Kanata.” Subaru blinked owlishly at him, mouth gaping.

Asahi’s eyes sparkle as he leans into Kanata’s personal space. “It’s a bit like a TV Drama, isn’t it?” He tilts his head, smiling sadly. “You like her but she’s in love love love with Subaru.” He sighed dramatically, straightening up. “And Subaru’s in love with Yume!” He shouted despairingly.

Subaru yelled a token protest, arguing good-naturedly with the actor.

Nozomu’s eyes stayed fixed on Kanata until the dancer finally turned to meet his eyes. “Are you going to let her know?” He asked.

Kanata sighed. With the proverbial cat out of the bag he feels like he can breathe a bit better but that doesn’t change the hopelessness of his situation. “She loves Subaru.” He says because he’s not naive. He’s crunched the numbers. The chances Saotome Ako would turn her gaze away from Subaru while steadily becoming more likely with how close they were getting - he can’t forget the way his heart skipped a beat when she’d said those words, ‘I won’t be able to see you anymore.’ - were still out of reach because of how stubborn she was. And worse, Kanata can’t even hate her for it.

How can he when it’s that stubbornness that made him fall for her in the first place?

Nozomu’s expression shifts back to that knowing look he always gives Subaru when he denies being interested in Yume. “I don’t know, Kanata.” He taps his chin with long elegant fingers. “I’m sure you already know but Saotome Ako can be full of surprises when she wants to be.” He smiled, ushering Subaru and Asahi out of the room so Kanata could have some space.

Kanata leaned back again, slumping down until he was laid out on the couch staring at the ceiling. “As unpredictable as a cat, huh?” He recalls the fairytale character from Alice in Wonderland, the Cheshire Cat, and smiles at the imagery. “I hope you can still surprise me, Saotome Ako.”

- Side: S4 -

After connecting the dots, the feelings she’d written down translated into the startling revelation that Ako had romantic feelings for a guy who might just like her back.

Ako shook her head, erasing the line again. Everything she’d written since The Realization had been way too saccharine and cliche and she hated it. She couldn’t hold the squirming, warm feeling in her chest anymore. Not when she knew it was there.

So, she relocated to the S4 table out in the garden where she’d been caught by none other than all of her friends. And really, curse her for being so transparent, because when Yume asked her if she was okay she immediately became beet red and started stuttering about how everything was f-f-fine.

When it became apparent that no one believed that, Ako sighed and sat down with them. Laying her wad of papers down on the table she turned it so everyone could see it.

“Music?” Laura piped up because of course that’s what she’d notice first. Her fingers skimmed the carefully shaded notes and riffs reverently, humming under her breath. “You’re writing a song?” She asked, sounding interested.

“I don’t have the lyrics down yet but the melody came to me… during Christmas.” She admitted, placing the sheet with the lyric she’d written down on it next to the sheet music. “With this lyric, for the bridge.”

“Ana-ta.” Mahiru mouthed, her eyes going wide. “The same day M4 announced they’d be debuting for their solo careers?” She concluded.

Ako smiled, there was really nothing that could get past them. She tried to open her mouth but found she had nothing to say so she simply nodded in answer.

“So, this song is for Subaru-kun, then?” Yume asked.

Ah, really it’d be much easier for the song to be about Subaru, but it’s not. And Ako steels herself to say it, breathing in deeply before speaking.

“It’s for Kanata.” She admits.

There it was. No going back. The moment she’d spoken it felt like the truth had buried itself deep in her heart and lifted every heavy feeling in her body. She guesses she thought it’d feel… different. That she’d be different when she finally accepted it.

She should have known better, really. After all, it’s not like she’s changed. Her liking Kanata was a natural progression from the day he’d told her that in front of the cameras they were equal as idols. Kanata’s always been a grounding presence for her and it makes sense that while he’d been busy helping her, giving her advice, and genuinely supporting her that she’d come to appreciate him. To trust him.

He contributed to the idol that stood in her shoes today and, she realizes belatedly, that’s what the song is about. It’s about how fortunate she is that he’d found her. That he’d helped her.

“I want to show him how thankful I am to him for sticking around to tell me the hard truth all the time. For giving me advice even though I normally don’t want it when it comes from him. And… for being there.” She blushed bright red but kept on. “I want to let him know that I’ve realized I can stand tall as an idol because of his support and that… I-”

Ako stopped, feeling a hand resting on her shoulder. Yume looks at her and smiles widely, silently telling her that she understood. She didn’t have to say anything else because she heard it loud and clear. “Then, maybe start with that?” She suggested, pushing the papers back in her direction and pointing to the pencil and eraser in Ako’s hand. “We’ll help you find the words if you can’t find them yourself.”

Ako felt tears welling up in her eyes and she reached up to wipe them away before setting her pencil against the paper again, feeling more determined this time. “Right, I’m counting on everyone’s support, then.”

- Side: M4 -

“So, what is Ako-chan doing for your TV interview?” Asahi piped up, nearly making Kanata jump up in shock.

Kanata raised an eyebrow at him, calmly picking at his breakfast salad. “Since when has she been Ako-chan?” He asked, trying to keep the defensiveness out of his voice.

Asahi stuck his tongue out at Kanata. “It’s the rules, Kanata! Subaru likes Yume and she’s Yume-chan so it makes sense that since you like Ak-” He said proudly up until Kanata pulled him down and covered his mouth with his hand.

“You’re too loud.” He deadpanned, sliding his salad over to Asahi. “Eat, that’s why you’re in the cafeteria, right?” He insisted, sighing in relief when the inquisitive eyes of the Four Star boy idol students went back to eating their breakfasts. “At this rate, she’ll find out through the gossip magazines by tomorrow.” He snarked.

Asahi practically inhaled the salad and then turned to face Kanata. “Tell me.”

Kanata examined his empty salad bowl and rolled his eyes in defeat. “She’s presenting a new Premium Rare Coord and a new song to promote her Kids TV Program.” He said and he notices that Asahi is staring at him with a grin. “What?”

“Nothing. You’re just…” Asahi shrugged. “You must be very proud of Ako-chan!” He smiled.

Kanata blinked at him. “What gave you that idea?” He asked, pulling his glass of water towards him so he can drink.

“I don’t know how we didn’t realize it until now, but I remember. Even during our first TV interview with her after she performed you said she’d finally flipped the switch and smiled at her.” Asahi poked Kanata on the nose. “It’s not just that time too, you should have seen your face when she became S4 or when you did that radio broadcast with Subaru after you went to see her perform for those kids-”

“You weren’t even there for that. How would you know?” He asked.

“Subaru told me.” Asahi winked, ignoring the glare Kanata leveled at him. “My point is, she makes you really happy and I’m glad she does because you deserve it.” He said, stealing Kanata’s water from his loose fingers and downing it all. “Thanks for breakfast, Kanata!” He cheered before making a run for it.

Kanata snapped out of his sentiment induced haze and got up to chase him for stealing his breakfast right under his nose. Asahi was so dead when he got his hands on him.

- Side: S4 -

With one last push, Ako wrote out the final lines of the song with a flourish.

I’m calling, calling you.

“What. A. Relief.” She groaned, falling back so she was lying down on the floor of her large S4 apartment. She stared up at the dress Koharu was helping her stitch together and smiled. “It looks gorgeous, Koharu.” She rolled over so she could watch while Yume and Laura held up several bows.

“Your design was beautiful so it makes sense that it’s beautiful in reality, Ako.” Koharu smiled, tapping a finger against her cheek. “You drew three of the gradient white to purple and yellow ribbons, right?” She asked, checking Ako’s drawing. She’d included some precise measurements for how long the fabric had to be for it to work but she still needed Koharu’s help in translating it into dress form.

“I’m all done.” Mahiru said, presenting the fluffy purple cat ear headband with pink bows and white ribbon frills that trailed off to the sides. On her arms were several striped and polka dotted bangles in pale pastel colors. “I think you’ll be needing gloves to accent the top.” She suggested.

Ako stared at the headband and smiled thankfully at Mahiru. “They’re perfect. As expected of our very own Fashion Guru.” She nodded.

Mahiru colored at the praise. “It’s no problem. I’m excited to see your stage. It’s going to be great.” She said, lifting Ako’s drawing. The pale purple, pink, yellow, and white galaxy shone with bright yellow stars above the command station of a deep magenta and violet spaceship. Ako had added several large cat plushies to the stage to make it more her style with smaller cat plushies floating out in space with astronaut helmets. The overall effect was dream-like and full of cats. “It was nice of Kirara to offer to help with the stage.”

“She was just excited about all the plush toys she wanted to add.” Ako rolled her eyes in mock-exasperation.

“I like the cats outside the ship in astronaut gear.” Yume commented, pointing to them. “Maybe we should add ribbons to them too!” She said excitedly.

Ako blinked and drew in some ribbons on their helmets.

“Cute!” Everyone chimed before laughing.

“At this rate, you’ll have a the rest of the week to practice the choreography we talked about.” Laura winked. “It’ll be great.” She assured.

Ako looked at them, her friends and even Kirara were helping her make this stage happen. All so she could convey a message that was important to her. It almost made her want to tear up again. But, this was no time for sentiment, she’d leave that for later. Now, she had a dance to practice, a dress to complete, and a stage to design.

And, maybe, she’d have… a special someone, by the end of it?

“I’m calling, calling you.”

- Side: Kanata -

Oddly enough, the day that M4 eases up on teasing Kanata about Ako is the day of the TV interview. In fact, when Kanata got back that morning from his run, he found that his schedule was clear up until shooting for the interview later that day. It all smells heavily of Nozomu’s intervention. Asahi showed up at breakfast but instead of stealing his food, he offered Kanata cupcakes that he could “take to the set if you want, you can even share with Ako-chan”.

The only one who’s acted relatively normal was Subaru and that’s only because if he even comments about Ako then he knows Kanata will retaliate mercilessly with his hopeless crush on Yume so he’s kept his mouth shut up until they reached the studio later that day.

“Kanata.” Subaru called out before they both took their places behind the stage door.

Kanata turned around to face him. “Yeah? There a problem?” He tilted his head.

“Saotome Ako.” He said softly.

Kanata’s face hardened, his fists balling up in his pockets defensively.

“She’s a talented girl, I never said that. I never… never really appreciated it, her talent and her support. I’m sorry for that and I intend to tell her that too.” Subaru looked up, meeting Kanata’s stare. “You’re my friend, Kanata. You notice every little thing. You’re the most sensitive to our fans. It’s because you care so much, I know you do. And, I know that if she’s as talented and smart as I think she is, she’ll see that.” He said, patting him on the shoulder reassuringly.

Kanata opened his mouth to comment and ended up smiling. “Thank you.”

Subaru winked at him. “Don’t mention it.” He said as the ON AIR sign lit up and the host opened the show. “Let’s do our best, Kanata.”

“You sound like Yume-chan.” Kanata smirked as the doors opened and they both strode down the steps, greeting the host kindly.

“It’s good to see you two back on the show!” The host, an idol fanatic and journalist named Aya Kiirio, welcomed them cheerfully after they both sat down.

“It’s good to be back.” Subaru answered smoothly.

Kanata nodded. “Thank you for having us.”

Subaru looked around exaggeratedly.

“Looking for someone, Yuki-san?” The host asked, playing along.

“Wasn’t there another idol who was supposed to be here with us?” He asked.

The host laughed. “Why yes, there is! Everyone please give a warm welcome to Four Star Academy student, muse of Fuwa Fuwa Dream, and member of S4, Saotome Ako-san!” The crowd stood up and started clapping as Ako walked down the steps, waving to her fans. She took a moment to turn and shake hands with Kanata and Subaru, not even losing her composure like she normally would have.

The girl sitting in the opposite couch was completely different from before. This was Saotome Ako, the up and coming actress.

“So, Saotome-san, you acted with both Kira-san and Yuki-san in your mermaid idol drama recently.” The host prompted.

Subaru nodded. “I played her character’s favorite idol. She was amazing to work with. She’s very talented, too.” He said, nodding to her. “I wasn’t a fan before but I am now.”

“I must confess, I was nervous about this interview given the other talent that would be appearing.” She blushed slightly.

“Right, you’re a big fan of Yuki-san, aren’t you?” The host asked, leaning forward in interest.

“I am and have been for a while. His work is inspiring. But, we’re all professionals here, we all worked hard to get where we are and that’s what’s important. After all,” She looked at Kanata and nodded. “On this side of the camera, we’re all equal as idols.”

Kanata smirked, his heartbeat speeding up.

“Ah, there’s a story there.” Subaru said encouragingly.

Ako gave a sheepish grin, acting at its finest. “When I first met M4, I was so nervous I almost messed up the entire TV program we were on together. Kira-san was nice enough to give me advice.” She said, segwaying smoothly into the introduction of her song. “Kira-san has given me a lot of advice since then that has enabled me to perform well for my fans, for everyone who supports me. My song today is a dedication to all those people who supported me and made me the idol I am now. I couldn’t have done it without all of you.” She said, facing the studio audience and the cameras.

Kanata felt a soft smile form on his face, pride swelling up in his chest.

“And with that, Saotome Ako-san will be performing her song, Galaxy Hide-And-Seek after this commercial break!” The host announced and they all waved as the audience started clapping.

Ako sighed in relief, her perfect posture slumping slightly. “About what you said, Su-” She shook her head. “Yuki-san. Thank you. I’m honored.” She bowed.

“I should have said it sooner. I look forward to your stage.” He reached out and pulled Kanata closer by the arm. “So is Kanata.”

Kanata pushed up his glasses to hide the pride on his face. “You’ll do well, I’m sure.”

Ako blushed and bowed again probably to hide said blush. “It’ll be the best stage you’ve ever seen, just you wait.” She grinned, turning to leave the set so she could prepare for her song. “Oh,” She turned abruptly, looking at Subaru. “Yume and the others said they’d be watching my stage so if you want to see her… come to my dressing room after the show.” She smiled and then turned around again.

Subaru and Kanata stared at her, blinking in shock. “What was that?” Subaru asked.

Kanata shook his head slowly. “I have no idea.”

- Side: Ako -

Ako’s heart pounded. She felt herself being lifted up onto the stage with her back to the audience staring out into the pastel swirl galaxy outside the large viewing windows of the cat-themed spaceship. The astronaut cat plushies waved at her as they floated past and Ako breathed in, the intro music starting out soft and then when the drums entered she turned and started dancing.

Yume, Laura, Mahiru, Koharu, and Kirara were all sitting in the front row now with the host to their left. And to the host’s right was Subaru and Kanata whose eyes were focused intently on Ako.

With one final twirl, she striked three different poses in succession to the beat. “I’ve finally found,” With her right hand, she pointed to her left bending over. Her other hand rested flatly perpendicular to her forehead as if surveying the crowd. “Someone out there’s searching for me.” She moved her body to the right, mock-scanning the crowd.

“Don’t know why I know,” Putting both hands to her chest, she extended her hands forward, pulled them back to her chest and then extended them out with each word she sang. “But deep in my heart I know that it is true.” Placing her right arm in front of her and her left behind her, she turned to the left moving her left hand to her chest and pushing back with her right.

“I need to find that someone,” Facing forward, she placed her left hand back to her waist, put her right palm out, placed her left palm against the back of her right palm, closed her left palm around her right thumb, pulled her hands to her chest and made a number one sign with her right hand resting it on top of her left hand, and then extended her hands back out. “Who understands my feelings.”

Stepping forward, Ako readied herself. “Are you there waiting for me? Just how-” She extended her arms up, bringing them down to meet in front of her chest. “Close am I-” She ventured a look at Kanata who only looked back at her and smirked. Her cheeks blazing, she stared out into the crowd, aiming a flying kiss at them. “‘Til we meet?” She winked.

“If I could connect us telepathically,” Pointing both fingers at her head, she shook her arms and then pointed to the sky. “Then I could find you deep in this vast blue galaxy.” Pointing to the sides, she drew her arms down while marching and then in a finger gun motion pointed to the crowd. “I feel a miracle in reach.” With both hands to her chest she reached out with her left hand.

Ako bent her knees and jumped as high as she could, striking a pose mid-air. “And in this moment!” The crowd nearly cheered when her feet hit the ground. “I realize that maybe on this planet, I-” She made a round motion with her arms. “Can build a life with new memories and then I’ll find-” Ako put one palm on top of the other, twirled and then did a gutz pose.

“That one day we’ll meet face to face.” She sang, stepping backwards and then turning to face the pastel galaxy. The spaceship lights shut off and the pastel galaxy lit up giving Ako a silhouette.

“I know the galaxy extends on endlessly. But the stars reveal our destiny.” She sang to the view. “One day in this grand hide-and-seek we’ll draw each other out-” Making a searching gesture, Ako turned around again, spotlights on her. “Say you’re ready to be found!” She said, saluting.

Behind her, the cat plushies straightened and started copying her arm movements as she danced. Ako strutted forward during the last stretch of music, striking poses until she reached the end of the stage where a set of stairs led to a small glass platform displaying the surface of the Earth below the spaceship. It had been something Kirara added that she thought would look nice during the climax of the song “since Earth is where you meet that special person, right?”.

With a deep breath, Ako stepped down the stairs. “This step that I am taking, could it be the very last?” She sang, arms extended to the sides. “The person that holds my heart, ah-ah.” Turning her head to the side in embarrassment, both hands clasped to her chest. “That someone is…” Looking out to the audience, she smiled.

With her hand extended, she reached out in Kanata’s direction and closed her fist in a grabbing motion.

“Kanata.”

- Side: Kanata -

“K-Kanata? Isn’t the lyric supposed to be Anata? Did she make a mistake?” The host babbled quietly to herself. On stage, Ako turned to face the viewing window striking pose after pose while stomping her feet and singing.

I hear your voice saying “I’m always by your side”.

Subaru turned to look at his friend. Kanata stared at Ako, his jaw hanging and his eyes wide. “Kanata?” He nudged the dancer and he blinked before acknowledging him.

“Ah?” He hummed, unable to believe what he’d heard.

Subaru chuckled, turning to watch the rest of the stage. “What are you going to do?” He asked.

It’s ringing out and speaking to me in gentle signs.

Kanata was a man of calculation, logic. Whenever he worked in dramas he knew exactly how many lines, scenes, and sets they’d be working on for each day of filming and planned his work meticulously. It’s the same for his television work. He always knew his odds, his calculations, what had to be done in that day and in the next day.

When he calculated his chances with Ako, it had come up negative. He’d calculated wrong. It had to be wrong. Because, he can’t be right not when it was his name she’d said.

Guide me until I reach you, please.

“It could be a mistake-” He muttered.

“It’s not a mistake.” Subaru insisted. “She looked right at you. She’s taken the first step. The question is, Kanata, what are you going to do about it?” He asked.

- Side: Ako -

“And in this moment!” Ako faced towards the crowd again and waved to Yume and the girls who jumped up shouting supportively at Ako. “I realize the girl I was a year ago-” She blushed, turning to Subaru and Kanata before waving to them too. “Changed because she was somebody that you got to know.”

“I hope that I can help you too.” Her hands folded to her chest in a prayer position, she gestured to everyone again. “I’m calling, calling you!” She made a calling gesture and then pointed up, swaying side to side.

The outro continued accompanied by the dance sequence from the intro and then ended with the spaceship lights dimming down again along with the pastel galaxy leaving only the lights on the glass platform and the projection of planet earth below their feet.

The crowd cheered as the stage faded away leaving Ako standing on stage and waving to everyone as the host climbed back up. “That was an impressive performance by Four Star Academy’s Saotome Ako. You said that song was for your fans? Any fan in particular.” She asked, smiling at Ako.

“Well, not just my fans. Everyone who supported me.” She answered vaguely. “Thank you so much again for letting me share this song with everyone.”

The host, dissatisfied by her non-answer, pressed on. “But, might there be a special someone-” She prodded making Ako slightly uncomfortable.

“Ako is a very crucial member of S4 who is coincidentally here in the audience to support her, isn’t that right, Yume?” Subaru cut in, smoothly coming between the host and Ako, gesturing to Yume standing up at the front of the audience.

“Great Job, Ako-chan!” They all cheered and the audience started clapping again.

The host, placated by this answer, noticed that the segment was about to end and rushed to say her closing comments before the commercial break. “That’s it for Saotome Ako’s appearance but you can catch her after this show in her television drama. After the break, we have an exclusive interview with Yuki Subaru and Kira Kanata about their lives behind the idol scenes so to speak so stay tuned to us for more of the scoop!” She managed to say before the ON AIR sign went dark.

“Good job, today. I really did love your song and your dress is beautiful.” The host shook Ako’s hand. “Don’t hesitate to give me a call for whatever you need.” She offered.

“Thank you very much.” Ako bowed and didn’t straighten until she was gone.

Ako sighed, smiling gratefully at Subaru. “Thanks for the save.” She said, extending her hand to give him a firm handshake. And if the handshake was a bit longer than expected, Ako’s been Subaru’s fan for a long time. Sue her. It’s after that when she notices that Kanata was nowhere to be found. “Where’s Kira-san?” She asked.

“Ah, Kanata needed to talk to the producer about the interview. He said he’d pass by your dressing room later to congratulate you on your Premium Rare and your song.” He said just as the bell started ringing signaling five minutes before the beginning of the interview segment. “You’ll probably want to change. Your friends are waiting for you.” He nodded in Yume’s direction.

Ako nodded. “Good luck with the rest of the show.” She waved, walking over the Yume and the girls.

They migrated to Ako’s dressing room in a flurry of praise and excitement. When they opened Ako’s door, they found an assortment of cupcakes in pastel colors with cat designs sitting on the table.

“These look like the ones I helped Nii-san make.” Mahiru muttered to herself, examining a perfectly frosted vanilla cupcake.

Yume picked up the folded note next to the box and gasped. “It says ‘Today was the best you’ve ever been.’ and it’s signed from Kira Kanata!” She smiled widely, passing the note to Ako.

Ako started at the note, blushing. That’s not all. He said he’d come by and see her after his interview. The interview was going to start soon. “I’m going to change real quick.” Ako scurried into the changing room and then came out wearing the S4 uniform just in time for Laura to invite her over to the couch where they were watching Subaru answer the usual question about how their fans are taking their solo debut announcements.

“I heard Yuki-san has his eye on someone, finally.” The host wiggled her eyebrows.

Subaru laughed. “You sound exactly like Nozomu.” He joked.

“Don’t avoid the subject, Subaru.” Kanata commented, pushing his glasses up.

“Well, it’s normal for a guy to like someone, right?” Subaru shrugged. “At the end of the day, I’m an idol. I’ll always love my fans. Anyone I end up liking has to understand that.” He said, making the fans swoon yet again.

“Huh? Subaru-kun had a crush on someone?” Yume tilted her head. “I wonder if it’s someone we know?” She chimed, excited at the prospect of helping Subaru out with his crush.

Ako and the rest stared at her, wondering if it was a good time to let her know he was talking about her.

Subaru, however, had more to say on the matter of crushes. “And besides, all of us in M4 like someone. Even Kanata.” He smirked, nudging the dancer in a practiced back and forth. This was obviously scripted somewhat.

Ako stiffened, all eyes turned to stare at the screen anxiously.

Kanata pushed his glasses up again, a nervous tic of his that Ako realized she found endearing. “I can’t argue with that. I’m just as transparent as Subaru about my affection for her.” He admitted.

“Oh, can you tell us a bit about her?” The host asked.

“She’s an idol. A very passionate and talented idol.” He smiled softly. “She started out kind of lost but when she found her rhythm she never stops surprising me. I just… I enjoy her. And I’m proud of everything she does.”

Subaru patted Kanata’s arm. “You should see his face whenever she’s working hard.” He jested, both M4 members smiling and laughing together.

The host patted at her cheeks with a tissue looking a bit teary eyed. “She sounds fantastic. Thank you for sharing with us.”

Kanata shrugged. “I’m lucky to know her.” He said, his posture straight and obviously proud of who he was talking about.

Ako stopped listening after that which was just as well because the host wrapped up the show and announced the next show. Yume, Laura, Mahiru, Koharu, and Kirara were all silent. The knock on the door was almost too loud.

“C-Come in.” Ako called out, sighing in relief when it was just Subaru. “Subaru-kyun.”

“I’m just here to check if anyone wants to grab a drink at the vending machine with me?” He asked, making weird hand gestures that Ako couldn’t understand.

Yume, however, seemed to understand them immediately and grabbed Laura and Koharu by the arm. “We’d love to go with you! Right, Kirara-chan? Mahiru-chan?” She gave Laura and Koharu a look.

Before Kirara and Mahiru could object, Koharu and Laura grabbed them by the arm and dragged them all outside with Subaru.

“I-I can come too.” Ako said, standing to reach for her bag.

“No! We’ll be right back! We’ll get you something too, Ako-chan!” Yume insisted, letting go of Laura and Koharu. “You just stay there and rest up. We’ll be back.” She smiled before shutting the door.

Ako stood in her empty dressing room and then fell back into the couch, taking a cupcake from the box and biting into it. “Red velvet.” She smiled, turning the dessert so she could admire the white frosting and the pale indigo whiskers.

Another knock at her door made Ako swiftly finish up her cupcake. “They’re back already?” She muttered. Standing up, she brushed the cupcake bits off her hands and into the trashcan before placing a hand on the doorknob. “You guys are back soon-”

Ako pulled the door open and came face to face with a bright arrangement of pink, white, and yellow flowers resembling the flowers in her aura when she’s on stage and standing there holding the bouquet was Kira Kanata.

“W-What’s this all about? The cupcakes weren’t enough?” Ako tried to sound exasperated but failed, taking the bouquet and stepping back so he could come inside. “They’re beautiful. Thank you.” She tried again in a quiet voice, thankfully without the awful stutter this time.

“Well, if I’m going to do this, I thought I’d do it right. You’ll have to forgive the rush since you never really gave me a sign that you felt that way.” Kanata said, pushing his glasses up again as he closed the door.

Ako put the flowers down next to the cupcakes and stared up at Kanata. “What are you doing?” She asked.

“You-” He shook his head and laughed. “I’m asking you if you want to go on a date with me, Saotome Ako.”

Ako’s eyes widened. ‘He- did he just-’ She thought and her mental database was displaying errors of all kinds because Kira Kanata, the guy she’d just realized she liked a lot, just asked her out on a date. And Ako needs to answer soon because Kanata was starting to look worried.

“Lucky for you, I can make time for lunch on Friday.” She grinned, trying to summon up her infamous bullheaded self-confidence.

Kanata just smiled at her in reply, making Ako’s heart skip a couple of beats. “Lucky me. It’s a date then.” He said, turning to open the door and leave again, probably to go to another job but really he’s just going to go back to the M4 dorms and collapse on the couch in relief.

Ako watched him awkwardly struggle with the doorknob for a while before finally opening the door and smiled. “It’s definitely a date, Kira Kanata.”

#kanako #akokana #saotome ako #ako saotome #gahhhh my first aistars fic hope everyone likes it #Aikatsu Stars #Aikatsu Stars!#AiStars #Kira Kanata #Kanata Kira #M4 #S4 #Nijino Yume #Yume Nijino #Subaru Yuki #yuki subaru #I'll leave it at that #chuunific

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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The Walking Dead: World Beyond Episode 5 Review – Madman Across the Water

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This The Walking Dead: World Beyond review contains spoilers.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond Episode 5

When the Endlings left Campus Colony, they were four kids who didn’t really know each other. Even Hope and Iris, the two sisters, had secrets from one another. Silas kept the secret of why he ended up at Campus. And Elton, the quirky little fellow in the corduroy suit, had secrets of his own. On a show littered with traumatic stories, perhaps none is quite as traumatic as Elton’s, and The Walking Dead: World Beyond puts that trauma, as well as his mother’s manuscript, to great use in explaining Elton’s current character.

One of the things Dan Liu does with his direction, particularly the montage towards the middle of the episode of everyone coming together to build a boat, is get over the importance of pulling together as a team. The kids have been mostly divided, but slowly pulling together as they journey, with Huck and Felix already an established team. The adults working to separate the kids out and break up their developing unity is a bit underhanded, and during the episode, it seems the Huck is slowly starting to feel this out as she watches the kids work together to solve problems that would be insurmountable to an individual working alone. The montage, and the many scenes of the kids coming to one another’s assistance, help put that theme over fairly strongly, even before the alt-country song kicks in while building a raft out of pallets and barrels.

Another credit to Liu is for the ability he has with younger actors, particularly Roger Dale Floyd, who plays Elton in his flashback sequences. It’s something that could easily go too big or too wide. It’s a child, scared, hiding in a box while clutching a dinosaur fossil as a talisman of safety. However, it’s pretty restrained, all things considered, and young Roger Dale Floyd puts in a solid performance, bolstered by the returning Amelia (Christina Brucato) and debuting Isaac (Reese Rios) as his bookish, educator parents. No wonder Elton is a precocious child; his mother is a university professor and his father is a paleontologist working at the local natural history museum, and Elton himself is shown to be precocious from the jump, his attitude towards life inspired by his mother’s fatalistic manuscript and the bravery his father shows in the final moments the two spend together. (Since my father passed away and my own child has been born, things like this hit me harder than they should, especially when performed and shot competently, as this is. Also, like Elton, I’m claustrophobic.)

“Madman Across the Water” is peppered liberally with voice overs via Rohit Kumar’s script, with Elton’s mother’s voice reading the words in her book in her son’s head. His goal has been to finish his mother’s magnum opus in her memory, and it’s an interesting plot device to explain the character’s fatalistic bent. Her book seems to be all about the inability of humans to overcome nature, so naturally, he’d feel that earth will eventually belong to the force of nature known in their world as the empties. At least, at first; however, after the successful launch of the ship and the ability of both himself and the others to rise above their fears and do great things, to look a force of nature like fear in the face and conquer it, to act in the face of certain death because of no other option.

As such, her book changes directions when it goes from typewritten to Elton’s hand-written additions. After all, he’s been living his life to attempt to finish someone else’s story, not write his own, but he seems to be moving in a different direction after his bonding experience with the rest of his group. By being forced to confront his biggest fear to save his friends, and by doing it successfully, Elton goes through significant personal growth, the sort of growth that Huck talks about going through during her time on her own rafting adventure, growth that none of them would be able to achieve in the safety of Campus Colony. If nothing else, Nicolas Cantu remains the most interesting performer on the show, at least of the younger folks, and Elton remains the most interesting character, even more so when he’s given an opportunity to emote and be something other than quirky for the sake of being amusing.

The Walking Dead: World Beyond Episode 4 Post-Credits Scene Explained

By Ron Hogan

The Walking Dead: World Beyond Episode 4 Review – The Wrong End of a Telescope

By Ron Hogan

Elton feels like he’s forging a pretty decent budding friendship with Felix (Nico Tortorella) in spite of Felix’s attempts to manipulate him into turning against the others. There are a couple of make-nice moments throughout the episode, but I kind of doubt a group of teens would be so quick to forgive someone for turning against them, and they would definitely not be forgiving of an adult who tried to split their group apart in what is literally a life or death situation. Most likely, that’d be enough to break up the group, but apparently, the existential threat caused by dissent and deception pales in comparison to the actual threat of a group of walkers freed from a bargain-basement Margaritaville by a lightning storm.

The group can do more when they work together, as shown by the montage in the episode, splitting up to get more done, and the final cheer-baiting moment in which the group all pull together to launch the boat into the river and escape the pursuing zombies. However, after the group spends most of the episode arguing with one another, or yelling at Felix for his attempt to smash their togetherness, it doesn’t feel quite like the heroic moment it’s supposed to. Yes, they overcame their differences and were able to come together after the group politics were dealt with, but anyone should be able to work together to drag a boat into the water to escape being eaten alive.

That’s less of a heroic moment and more of an obvious thing, and it’s clear that the tension won’t be done with until Hope shatters Elton’s last bit of optimism somewhere along the way. What the audience has known since the second episode, that Hope is the person who killed Elton’s mother and sister, is finally, officially revealed to Hope in ham-fisted fashion as she gawks at a photo of his mother. I had assumed, based off of the way Elton has been triggering flashbacks for her, that she’d already put the clues together, but it certainly doesn’t seem like it based off of her reaction. It might be a needle drop for the character, but it’s not for the audience, and it’s pushed too hard here in the closing moments of “Madman Across the Water.” It’d be a good punch if the audience hadn’t been clued into it for so long, and for so obviously, that it makes Hope look silly for not knowing it. I’m all for dramatic irony, but it’s been too heavily applied

One of the issues with a show like this is that drama needs to be created amongst the group. Felix’s deceit seem to be resolved a little too easily, but the big secret—Hope’s big secret—is going to hang over the remaining episodes of the season until she blurts it out, probably at the worst possible time given how these things typically unfold on teen dramas. With as long as it’s been stretched out thus far, will audiences have any patience for this to continue very much longer?

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The Walking Dead: World Beyond hasn’t exactly been a ratings smash, even if it’s still the fourth most popular show on AMC at the moment. It’s a limited series with limited appeal, in a nontraditional genre for AMC. And, more unfortunately for the show, it’s been done better elsewhere. I’m not quite ready to write the show off, but the shine has started to flake off a bit.

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